Upanishads · Kaṭha 2.8
॥
Devanāgarī
न नरेणावरेण प्रोक्त एष सुविज्ञेयो बहुधा चिन्त्यमानः ।
अनन्यप्रोक्ते गतिर् अत्र नास्त्य् अणीयान् ह्य् अतर्क्यम् अणुप्रमाणात्
Transliteration (IAST)
na nareṇāvareṇa prokta eṣa suvijñeyo bahudhā cintyamānaḥ /
ananyaprokte gatir atra nāsty aṇīyān hy atarkyam aṇupramāṇāt
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नnanot; no
नरेणnareṇaby a man; by a person
अवरेणavareṇaby an inferior [in knowledge] (avara — 'the lower'); by the immature; by one who has not attained
प्रोक्तःproktaḥset forth; spoken
एषःeṣaḥthis; he
सुविज्ञेयःsuvijñeyaḥeasily understood (su-vi-jñeya); clearly comprehensible; readily knowable
बहुधाbahudhāby many means; in various ways
चिन्त्यमानःcintyamānaḥbeing pondered (from √cint — 'to reflect'); thought about; reasoned over
अनन्यप्रोक्तेananyaproktewhen proclaimed by one who is not other (an-anya-prokta — by a seer not separated from the truth); without a proclaimer who has seen; unless uttered [by a knower] otherwise
गतिःgatiḥgoing; the way of attaining
अत्रatrahere; in this
नnanot; no
अस्तिastiam; exists
अणीयान्aṇīyānsubtler (comparative of aṇu — 'minute'); finer than the finest; more elusive
हिhiindeed; for
अतर्क्यम्atarkyamnot subject to reasoning (a-tarkya); not deducible by logic; beyond ratiocination
अणुप्रमाणात्aṇupramāṇātthan the measure of an atom; than the minutest measure
Translation
Expounded by an immature man, He is not comprehended, however much one may think about Him. And when no other, [who has seen], proclaims Him — there is no access here: He is subtler than the subtle and not subject to reasoning.
Version
0807d4f2c3eb · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
na nareṇāvareṇa proktaḥ — "spoken by a man inferior [in knowledge], He does not become clear": a truth retold by one who has not seen it grows turbid; bahudhā cintyamānaḥ — "however much one thinks about it" on top of a turbid retelling, sediment does not turn into a spring. Knowledge of the Ātman spoils in transmission through unclean hands, like water; and that is why tradition is so strict about the chain of transmitters.
ananyaprokte gatir atra nāsti — a phrase with a double bottom, both senses of which are true. The first: "if it is not proclaimed by another [who has seen] — there is no access here": without a teacher who knows not by hearsay, the road is closed. The second, subtler: an-anya-prokte — "when it is proclaimed by one who is not other", by him who is not separate from the Ātman, who speaks out of the identity of his nature with the truth — "there is no [further need of a] road": the word of a realized man carries one to the goal of itself.
aṇīyān hy atarkyam aṇupramāṇāt — "for He is subtler than the atom's measure and not to be reached by reasoning" (a-tarkya — "unattainable by tarka", by logical speculation). Logic moves from the known to the known; the Ātman does not lie in the series of the known — one cannot come to Him by inference, only by receiving from one who sees. This is no humiliation of reason but its exact boundary: reason is the judge of consistency, not the source of revelation.